The Practical Magic of Saving A Woman's Life
11.01.24
I confess to being late to the Practical Magic party. The spooky season movie came out in October 1998 when I surely went the movie theater regularly, but for some reason, it passed me by. Or, I passed it over, more likely. I probably assumed it would be too juvenile, the plot too overtly obvious and sentimental for me. At the time, I was a young woman at the tail-end of my 20’s, becoming comfortable in my stumbled-upon career, and in the midst of transitioning from one semi-serious boyfriend to the next one that I was very serious about.
It wasn’t until a few years ago, taken in by an “Autumn Vibes” algorithm on some streaming service or another, that I drank the potion. More than the allure of watching vintage Sandra Bullock & Nicole Kidman, the movie finally appealed to me when I discovered it had been filmed in the town of Coupeville right here on Whidbey Island.
My Beloved agreed to watch it with me only when I checked the cast credits and informed him that Dianne Wiest was also in the movie. Ms. Wiest cast a spell on him many years ago when she lit up the screen in Bullets Over Broadway, and forever changed the tenor and meaning of the refrain, “Don’t speak,” as she gently but decisively shushed the young man who mistook his ambition for love.
Watching Practical Magic, I particularly enjoyed seeing how the production crew turned a small Pacific Northwest mussel town into a picturesque east coast seaside village by painting all the buildings white. If you’re unfamiliar with west coast architecture, it can usually be summed up by: “Anything Goes.” Whatever style you like, whatever color suits you—we accept it. After all, we left-coasters did not risk death and disease (or worse) while enduring the long migration westward in order for someone else to dictate what our own house should look like. I giggle to myself imagining the people of Coupeville waiting patiently, paint cans in hand, for the movie crew to leave town so they could re-paint the buildings ocean blue with goldenrod trim, brick red with chocolate brown trim and an ochre door, or whatever—anything but vanilla on vanilla.
The genius of Tom Kundig aside, I struggle to come up with what defines PNW architecture, but I can tell immediately what it is NOT. One look at the exterior shots of the house the aunts live in on the fictional Marie’s Island and it was obvious that particular house was not anywhere near the Salish Sea. Turns out, that house was not anywhere at all, but just a set-built prop on nearby San Juan Island, which was unfortunate news for Barbara Streisand, who called the movie company hoping to buy the house after seeing the movie.
Like so many others I found the movie version of the Alice Hoffman book (which I have not read) charming and entertaining, and although I couldn’t imagine it ever being in my top 10 autumn movie favorites1, I could definitely see its appeal. Two orphaned sisters, raised by their eccentric aunts, who spent decades denying their family heritage and doing anything to avoid the ‘family curse’ finally come to terms with their gifts and identities as they separately navigate the harsh realities of loving and losing a good person and loving and being harmed by a terrible person. At the end, we see good spells cast, love reblooming, and a family strengthened. What’s not to feel good about?
When a friend invited me to this year’s Practical Magic Dinner at The Front Street Grill in Coupeville, I decided to rewatch the movie, just to get in the mood. I had forgotten much of the story from the first viewing a few years earlier, like how it begins with a woman being hanged while the other women in the town watch with relief, somehow believing her death will disintegrate whatever misery it is they face in their own day to day. I had also forgotten that a young Evan Rachel Wood is in the movie—who, even at that age, and with such a relatively limited role—conveys a sense of power, intelligence, and relatable vulnerability.
But what struck me most on second viewing, what I had not focused on at all the first time around was how the fortunate resolution of the story comes about, and is only made possible, when all the women on the fictional island put aside their differences and dislike for each other in order to save one woman from the man who is haunting her. Regardless of how the local ladies in good standing feel about the beliefs or past behaviors of the Owens sisters, in the end they stand together, hand in hand to save one of them from a brutal abuser.
How easy that sounds on the page, how obvious it seems in abstract—as a general concept. But how many of us have done that, would do that? Have I done that? Have I ever stood up for someone at risk whose spiritual and philosophical outlook has nothing in common with mine? Have I ever risked disappointing people who think like me in order to help a vulnerable person who doesn’t? I’d like to believe I would, that I will when I have the opportunity to.
The sequel will apparently also be based on an Alice Hoffman book in the Practical Magic series. How many of the original cast, beyond Bullock and Kidman, will return is not official, but it has been revealed that it will NOT be filmed in Coupeville. Maybe it was too impractical, 25+ years later, to talk the town into painting everything white again. At this point, it would also be necessary to paint the abundant population of deer cruising the streets, or their tawny hides would completely ruin the vibe.
Until the sequel comes out, us muggles will all have to practice our own practical magic, in whatever way that opportunity presents itself. For those of us in the United States it may be as simple as casting a vote - a vote that many women’s lives most certainly depend upon.
Thank you for reading.
{| AC
For the record, my top 10 “Autumn Vibe” movies are (in no particular order): The Ice Storm, Donnie Darko, Dead Poets Society, Pieces of April, Hannah and Her Sisters, Far From Heaven, Good Will Hunting, Mystic Pizza, E.T. and It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.
I just watched this movie recently for the first time and found it to be so charming!
It’s been years since I watched this movie and I don’t remember much. But I do remember how they painted the town of Coupeville in “vanilla on vanilla”.
I will have to add it to my “Movies to watch again” list now. ☺️